More than 293,000 tonnes of aquaculture feed was produced locally or imported to Malaysia in 2015. By 2020, it is estimated that almost 1.1 million tonnes of aquaculture feed will need to be produced. Discussions have been held with industry to expand capacity. DOF Malaysia is supporting good feed management, forumlation and nutrition practices by providing training courses for stakeholders. Farms and feed mills are audited with regards to feed and feeding processes based on MyGAP and legislative requirements.

Around 73% of total fisheries production originated from aquaculture including fish culture in ponds, community fish culture in oxbow lakes and irrigation weirs, rice-fish culture and cage culture. Commercial feed is typically only used in pond culture. In other production systems some supplementary feeding may be conducted using local materials. Integrated fish farming with livestock is also practiced using various species of carp, barbs, catfish, gourami and snakeheads. Existing local feed factories have considerable spare capacity.

As aquaculture production expands in Indonesia more feed is needed. It was estimated that in 2015 feed usage for main Indonesia’s cultured commodities reached 8.9 million tonnes, raising issues related to the availability of feed raw materials, many of which are imported. The Indonesian government has launched a “self-sufficient fish feed” programme, aimed at reducing the dependence on imported raw materials, especially fishmeal, by using locally available ingredients for feed. The availability of local feed ingredients is discussed.

About 0.75 million tonnes of shrimp feed was produced during 2016, with roughly equal quantities of freshwater fish feed produced. Although shrimp farming is fully dependent on formulated feeds, freshwater finfish farming is still transitioning to use of pelleted feeds. High value coastal carnivorous fin fish continues to be produced via a combination of trash fish and formulated feeds. Fishmeal inclusion in shrimp feed formulations has fallen substantially. The availability of feed ingredients in India is discussed.

The rapid development of the Chinese aquaculture has stimulated the development of a significant feed industry. Fishmeal imports have remained relatively static as formulations have improved and due to substantial culture of filter-feeding species. Representative species have been selected for systematic nutritional studies to determine their requirements and the efficiency of feed ingredients. These studies are being used to develop a database on nutritional requirements and bioavailability of feed ingredients to aid efficient feed formulation design.